Mortar fired from UAV

The US Army has fired a guided mortar from an unmanned air vehicle (UAV), in cooperation with General Dynamics.

An 81mm mortar, standard size, was fired from an L-3 Tigershark UAV at a range near Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Three mortars were fired from around 7,000ft and guided towards a stationary ground target. General Dynamics, the company that manufactures and tests the system, declared success.

While the mortar is portable and can be attached to any UAV of sufficient size, a launch using Tigershark is particularly appealing to US special operations units that employ that aircraft. The US military, and special operations in particular, are seeking increasingly small weapons for precision strikes.